Michigan State men’s tennis falls in second round of NCAA tournament

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Michigan State men’s tennis team fell to Mississippi State, 4-0, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, ending the Spartans season in the Round of 32 for the second straight year.

The Spartans, who finish the season 17-10, beat North Alabama in the first round on Friday. This was MSU’s third NCAA tournament appearance all-time.

Mississippi State (23-5) advances to next week’s NCAA Super Regionals.

The Bulldogs took the doubles point after a back-and-forth battle on all three courts. A 6-4 win for top-ranked Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez at No. 1 doubles over MSU junior Ozan Baris and freshman Matthew Forbes gave the Bulldogs an early advantage, but the Spartans continued to fight, with both freshman Danial Rakhmatullayev and redshirt-sophomore Aristotelis Thanos and the brother duo of senior Max and freshman Mitchell Sheldon battling to 6-6 contests to head to tiebreaks.  

Max and Mitchell Sheldon evened up the doubles battle with a 7-6 (4) tiebreak win at No. 3 doubles, moving Max Sheldon’s all-time combined wins total to 170, establishing a new program record. 

Rakhmatullayev and Thanos suffered a narrow defeat in their tiebreak, falling 7-6 (6) to the Bulldogs’ 60th-ranked team of Nicolo Baroni and Benito Sanchez Martinez as Mississippi State took a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs made it 3-0 with wins at No. 5 and No. 4 singles, with Dusan Milanovic defeating Forbes, 6-3, 6-2, and Bryan Hernandez Cortes picking up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mitchell Sheldon. 

The Spartans continued to battle, forcing third sets in all three remaining singles matches. After dropping his first set, 6-1, Max Sheldon evened his match at No. 3 singles with a 6-4 second set win, but could not complete the comeback, falling 6-3 in the final set to Baroni, who clinched the 4-0 win for the Bulldogs.

The respective head coaches were very familiar with each other, as Bulldogs’ head coach Matt Roberts was an assistant at Michigan State from 2009-2012 under former Spartan head coach Gene Orlando, including during MSU coach Harry Jadun’s freshman season in East Lansing in 2012.

Here are the full results:

#12 Mississippi State 4, #22 Michigan State 0

Singles competition:

1. #28 B. Sanchez Martinez (STATE) vs. #40 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, unfinished

2. #67 Petar Jovanovic (STATE) vs. #15 Ozan Baris (MSU) 2-6, 6-4, 5-4, unfinished

3. #111 Niccolo Baroni (STATE) def. #109 Max Sheldon (MSU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

4. Dusan Milanovic (STATE) def. #107 Matthew Forbes (MSU) 6-3, 6-2

5. B. Hernandez Cortes (STATE) def. Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) 6-3, 6-4

6. M. Martinez Serrano (STATE) vs. D. Rakhmatullayev (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 4-1, unfinished

Doubles competition

1. #1 Petar Jovanovic/B. Sanchez Martinez (STATE) def. Ozan Baris/Matthew Forbes (MSU) 6-4

2. #60 Niccolo Baroni/M. Martinez Serrano (STATE) def. D. Rakhmatullayev/Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) 7-6 (8-6)

3. Max Sheldon/Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) def. Dusan Milanovic/Michal Novansky (STATE) 7-6 (7-4)

— MSU Athletic Communications